MetaChat - Horrible Titles II : Bad Band Names

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25 March 2008

Horrible Titles II : Bad Band Names So far, we have Dogs Die In Hot Cars, Hoobastank, Hootie & The Blowfish, and Let's Get Out Of This Terrible Sandwich Shop. Do your worst.

post by: bmarkey at: 20:16 | 39 comments

The Sucking.

posted by jonmc 25 March | 20:17

Does It Offend You, Yeah?
Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly
Cherries From Yakima
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

posted by bmarkey 25 March | 20:20

Severed Head In A Bag.

posted by jonmc 25 March | 20:22

Our Lady Peace
Savage Garden
Five For Fighting (yeah, they get points for the hockey reference, but still...)

posted by bmarkey 25 March | 20:26

Lothar and the Hand People.

posted by deadcowdan 25 March | 20:32

Smashing Pumpkins
Limp Biskit(?)

There are too many.

posted by ethylene 25 March | 20:44

Death Cab for Cutie
Flogging Molly

posted by rhapsodie 25 March | 20:55

You know, I've always thought The Police was a shitty name for a band. Sure, it's in all of our collective consciousnesses now, but had I heard it before they were all famous, I really would have thought it was terrible.

posted by richat 25 March | 21:06

well, if you're going to throw Death Cab in there, you might as well include
Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band.

A-Ha
Sparklehorse
The Six Brown Brothers

posted by Medium Format 25 March | 21:07

Sorry - Cherries From Yakima should be Fresh Cherries from Yakima.

richat, I hear ya re: The Police. Probably took 'em all of three minutes to work that one out. Still, not nearly as bad as Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Or Smashing Pumpkins - that one's always bugged me too, eth.

I give Death Cab a pass because of the Bonzo tie-in. If it weren't for that, though...

posted by bmarkey 25 March | 21:10

Gay Bikers on Acid
The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black
Root Boy Slim & the Sex Change Band
I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House
A Bunch of White Guys with Big Dicks
Cattle Mutilation

posted by BitterOldPunk 25 March | 21:12

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, is pretty bad. I also can't stand Panic! At the Disco (prolly because of that exclamation mark especially)
I just checked the wiki to make sure I was putting the ! in the right place and it seems they may have dropped the ! now. Too late!

And, while I love their song titles, I have to say that I'm not really a fan of Anal C*nt's name.

Oh, and another one that's always bugged me is Van Morrison. I mean, what? He's some kind of Jim Morrison Van? Is that supposed to be a play on the Econoline Van? Sheesh, ever dumb. kidding!

posted by richat 25 March | 21:30

Sex Gang Children (good music bad name)
Fudge Tunnel
Butthole Surfers (again, good band bad name)
Echo and the Bunnymen
And I'm gonna stop before I really get started.

posted by Sailormom 25 March | 21:37

Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine?

posted by deadcowdan 25 March | 21:41

Panic! At the Disco definitely makes the list.

Personally I'm OK with Echo & the Bunnymen and CSM. This thing is bigger than just me, though, so if they bug you, they go on the list.

posted by bmarkey 25 March | 21:45

The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black
I love that name, and not just because they're from my town.

posted by BoringPostcards 25 March | 21:48

I used to be in a band called The Virgin Connie Swail.

Any band that uses a pun on 'funk' in their name.

There was a popular cover band in New Haven called Darik and the Funbags.

posted by jtron 25 March | 22:08

Haircut 100

There was once a band in LA called Snotty Scotty and the Hankies.

posted by brujita 25 March | 22:10

Ugh...Crash Test Dummies. Lame band with a lamer name.

posted by richat 25 March | 22:28

Oh, and Pissed Jeans is one of the worst I'd say.

posted by richat 25 March | 22:39

See, with things like Pissed Jeans and The Butthole Surfers, they're intentionally obnoxious. They want to be offensive. That doesn't bug me nearly as much as the sort of cretinous hipster wank that's so popular among bloggers these days.

posted by bmarkey 25 March | 22:53

Yeah, there's too much overlap between 'horrible' and 'awesome' - especially where Fred Negro is involved, so I'll include two of his bands:

I Spit On Your Gravy

and

The Brady Bunch Lawnmower Massacre.

(ooh, according to wikipedia, he was also in a band called "Squirming Gerbil Death". His more recent band is called 'The Fuck Fucks')

posted by pompomtom 25 March | 23:05

I Spit On Your Gravy is genius! How do they sound?

posted by bmarkey 25 March | 23:13

I can't decide if Murder by Death is an awesome band name or a horrid one.

(locally we have a band called Anal Pudding. They're super-popular. They have songs themed around their name. I wish that was a joke.)

And I hate sex gang children's name, too. I'd never play them when I was doing college radio just because I couldn't bring myself to say that name on the air.

posted by kellydamnit 25 March | 23:16

>How do they sound?

I honestly don't know... but there's a couple of vids on youtube, so as soon as I get to a youtube-friendly connection, I'll be checking it out.

(really, anything Fred Negro's been involved with tends to include a "$musicalstyle/country" description, which is quite enough to put me off... I just love his cartooning....)

posted by pompomtom 26 March | 00:08

bmarkly, i don't see how Butthole Surfers is offensive, other than the word Butthole. Adding "surfers" gives me a puppy-tilt, and then it just becomes silly fun when you realize that butthole surfing is the simple joy of sliding down a banister rail.

posted by Hellbient 26 March | 00:33

you say party! we say die!
dj my!gay!husband!
fake shark real zombie

posted by heeeraldo 26 March | 00:35

Hellbient, your explanation reminds me of the band Asswipe, who used to insist that the name was pronounced "Ah-sweep-ay". It's charming, but I don't know that I buy it.

posted by bmarkey 26 March | 00:44

There's some new UK bands with truly crap names:

Joe Lean And The Jing Jang Jong
Does It Offend You, Yeah?
Pete And The Pirates

I'd also like to nominate Smashing Pumpkins as a truly awful name.

posted by TheDonF 26 March | 01:26

There is a real band in Portland called "Brother Joseph or as I call him Broseph". I can't decide if it's an awesome name or a horrible one.

posted by cmonkey 26 March | 04:26

The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black? There's a band named this? omgSWOON! I love that, really and truly.

for all you tiny fresh-faced people who don't know who Karen Black is - get off my lawn, I have shoes older than you, &tc.

posted by taz 26 March | 04:48

bmarkey, I was a little off - butthole surfing is when someone is running along and fall on their ass and slide on the grass.

posted by Hellbient 26 March | 07:59

you say party! we say die!
dj my!gay!husband!

Dammit, heeraldo, you beat me to both of those.

Also: The Felchers.

posted by elizard 26 March | 10:03

Psycho's Mum

posted by bifter 26 March | 10:03

Kajagoogoo. Augh! Just typing that name set my teeth on edge.

posted by elizard 26 March | 10:05

!!! (Yes, that's the name of the band, I think it's read as Check check check)

posted by qvantamon 26 March | 16:37

I think it's actually chick chick chick, qvant.

posted by Hellbient 26 March | 16:45

(yeah, but !!! are a fun band, unlike say, Hoobastank, so they get a pass from me)

posted by gaspode 26 March | 18:02

Virgin Prunes. Such a bad name for such an influential band (in the goth circles, anyways).
Sex Gang Children I always liked as it's so typically Goth from that era.

posted by Zack_Replica 27 March | 01:20

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